Fire Academy
by LadyBaSingSe
Summary: Kataang. Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph all roll into a fire nation school to learn things about the fire nation that may help in the final showdown. A girl flirts with Aang. What will Katara do? -Thanks to Liselle129 for the prologue-
1. Prologue: Day One

**A/N: This chapter was created by Liselle129. You can find this as a oneshot on her profile called 'A Day in School', and if you have any comments of how well written it is or such, comment there. I did NOT write this chapter, but I have asked permission from the original creator to use it and continue it into a chapter story. So... read and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.**

--

Prologue: Day One

Katara walked into the school with the others, trying to make her stride purposeful even while she was inwardly quite reluctant. They'd all agreed that this was the best way to figure out how to pass themselves off as Fire Nation residents, but she still wasn't happy about it. Her eyes darted from side to side, all senses heightened for detecting signs of trouble. One part of her mind wondered when she'd become a tense, alert warrior.

The answer came in the form of a flash of memory. It was Aang being struck by lightning and falling, as though in slow motion, until Katara had summoned all of her bending powers to be in time to catch him.

_Oh yeah. _Nothing had been the same since that day, but Katara couldn't afford to be dwelling on the past right now. A perky girl, with brown eyes and wearing her dark hair in something akin to pigtails, approached them with a bright smile.

"Are you new?" she asked.

"Uh, yes," answered Aang, to whom she seemed to have addressed the question. "We're from the South." This was their selected cover, easy to come up with since, for most of them, it was technically true.

"Great! You're cute," the girl commented, still talking to Aang. "I'm Wen Li. And you are…?"

"Mine," Katara stepped in, both verbally and physically.

"Tara," Sokka muttered warningly, using the shortened form of her name that she'd decided to use here. Katara ignored both that and the sharp look she could feel Aang tossing her. She didn't like the slightly predatory look in Wen Li's eyes, something she was quite sure the boys had missed.

"Really?" drawled Wen Li, glancing between them. Fortunately, Aang picked up on Katara's cue and put his arm around her waist. She tingled where his hand settled, but she forced herself not to think about it, draping her own arm across his shoulders.

"Yes," Aang replied blandly. "Why?" Katara felt his muscles tense, which she assumed was a symptom of his lying.

"Oh, nothing. Welcome, anyway." With that, Wen Li flashed Aang another smile, spared a look of loathing for Katara, and flounced away.

"What was that about?" wondered Toph, when the four of them were alone again. Katara regretfully pulled away from Aang. She brought her head close to the others, who followed her lead by leaning in.

"I don't think it's a good idea to let someone get that close and start asking him personal questions," she answered calmly, in a low voice. Her response had actually been more or less automatic, but she was rapidly coming up with plausible excuses. "Besides, now people won't think it's too strange that he and I are together all the time."

"So what if some girl comes up to me?" Sokka demanded. "Are you going to step in there, too?"

"I'll leave that to Toph," Katara said airily, earning herself a scowl from that girl. "It's none of my business who you flirt with, and I'm sure you won't give anything away."

"You think I would?" returned Aang, sounding a little insulted. Katara quickly tried to backtrack.

"It's not that," she assured him. "But if you had a girlfriend, don't you think she'd eventually want to take off your headband or hold your hand?" At the mention of the fabric covering his forehead, Aang had automatically raised his arm to check it. With her last words, though, he turned his wrist in front of his face, gazing at the sharp point of the sleeve hiding the tattoo on his hand.

"I guess you're right," he conceded.

"The evidence of who you are is all over your body," added Katara. "Our best chance of keeping you anonymous is to have a reason to keep you away from other people as much as possible." She tried not to think about the bonus that she'd get to pretend to be his girlfriend for a little while.

Sokka still looked skeptical, but he just shrugged and let it go. Toph made a few snide comments at random intervals, but otherwise, the rest of the day passed with no notable incidents.

Of course, Katara knew that this wasn't the end of things with Wen Li. Even now, the other girl was most likely plotting to steal Aang away from Katara. All Katara had done was buy them some time and a little distance, but she didn't feel the need to share that with her friends. With any luck, they'd have what they needed from this place and be out of there without a trace before anything happened. In the meantime, she intended to enjoy herself.


	2. 1

**A/N: Alright, I wrote this chapter. Thanks again to Liselle129 for the prologue! Please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.**

--

1.

The next day, Katara was helping Sokka find his worksheet on 'Past Fire Lords' and Toph was already in the classroom. Aang was waiting near the doorway for Katara to meet up with him, but Wen Li approached instead.

"Hello, again," she said, trying her hardest to bat her eyelashes in a suggestive manner. She held a book close to herself by crossing her arms over her bosom and contracting her chest. It must've been an attempt at looking shy. "I never got your name yesterday."

Aang leaned against the wall, looking over Wen Li's shoulder at his best friend arguing with Sokka.

"Kuzon," he said simply in reply.

The school girl nodded.

"So, are you really with that girl?"

Aang blinked, quite confused, before realization kicked in.

"Oh... yeah."

She rolled her eyes playfully and giggled.

"She quite possessive, don't chya think?"

Aang peered over at Katara once again, and Wen Li must've noticed. She whipped her head around and watched the siblings fight, sighing deeply.

"It's her looks, isn't it?" she inquired, dropping her head ever so slightly.

Aang tried focusing back on the girl in front of him but had trouble.

"What?"

"Why you like her. Because she's pretty, right?"

Aang hesitated. It was a strange concept. He wasn't _really_ with Katara, but if he admitted all of his feelings for her in front of the whole classroom it wouldn't even make it slightly awkward. Even if it was true to him and them, Katara, Sokka and Toph wouldn't suspect a thing. They wouldn't know that's really how he felt.

"No," he said, finally deciding it didn't matter, "It's everything about her. Her voice, her motherly compassion, her kindness, her intellegence, her presence, her-"

"Okay, okay, I get it. But would you ever consider someone else?"

Aang's brow furrowed and Katara walked up to them, an unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach seeing this girl talking to _her_ Aang.

"Hey, sweetie," she said, pausing before kissing him on the cheek. He blushed at the name and the affection, although she'd kissed him like this before they were 'together'.

Aang took this moment and swooped his arm around her waist again.

"I'll see you later, Kuzon," the fire nation girl said with a disatisfied look on her face.

He nodded and tried to keep his eyes away from Katara, who had a smirk on her lips as Wen Li sulked off.

"What was that for?" Aang asked Katara, watching her brilliant eyes pierce into the other female's back.

She looked at him.

"Just to get her away. Like I said before, you can't let anyone get too close to you. It could ruin your whole identity!"

Aang wasn't complaining. It just gave him an excuse to do some of the things he'd wished he could do for a while now.

There could be benefits to this.


	3. 2

**A/N: Here's chapter 2. Enjoys! R&R if you enjoy too, reviews keep my stories alive! Thankies.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.**

--

2.

After heading into the classroom, Aang naturally took a seat next to Katara. As he did this however, the young waterbender could see the threatening glare Wen Li captivated her with, making her a little more than uneasy. The perky fire nation girl sat two seats down from Aang, an empty seat between the two, and to the left of her own friend.

"You know she's staring at you, right?" Aang suddenly whispered to her. Katara rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Let her stare. I'll get her to back off sooner or later."

Aang furrowed his brow.

"What do you mean?" he asked, although her comment was more to herself than him.

Katara hesitated. "Uh... she's just a little obsessive, you know? She wont let it go and it'll get annoying after awhile... You have a lot to think about right now, and her doing this just makes it a lot harder on you."

She listened to Aang chuckle as the teacher walked into the room.

She was an older woman, probably in her mid to late fifties, with black hair pulled neatly into a bun. Her eyes were brown, almost metallic in appearance, and her face had smooth features. It seemed that she wore no makeup other than the deep red on her thin lips. She wore a tidy black and grey outfit, along with a dark grey tie standing out on the lighter shade. Also accompanying her clothes was the black tote bag she pressed tight to her side, strangling it and leaving marks in it's leathery structure.

"Good morning, class," she said, her voice eerily echoing off the walls.

The whole class, other than the Avatar and his friends, all replied in unison.

"Good morning, Mrs. Shon."

Everyone evidently knew what to do, since they took their books out. The four newcomers followed suit soon after.

"Katara... I can't read," Toph said in a whiny voice from the left of her.

Katara nodded and hesitantly raised her hand. Their teacher approached with short, quick strides.

"Yes?" she asked tentatively, raising an eyebrow at the blue-eyed girl before her.

The sound of her voice gave Katara chills and she gulped deeply. Everything about the Fire Nation always seemed so... frightening.

"You see," Katara explained lightly, "my friend here is blind and can't-"

"Read it to her!" Mrs. Shon replied in aggravation, slamming a ruler than seemingly came out of nowhere onto the desk before her. Katara winced and nodded sourly as the other woman headed back over to her desk.

Katara, still a little shaken up, noticed as Wen Li departed from her seat and skipped contentedly over to the teachers desk. Mrs. Shon was unpacking her small bag, and as Katara peered at it, she was amazed it held as much as it did. Wen Li spoke quietly to the elder woman, who shrugged and nodded vaguely.

Wen Li walked, or more so, pranced, towards the door, twisting the handle slowly. Katara watched as she stopped momentarily and looked somewhere at the right of Katara, winking and abruptly making her way out the door. The disguised waterbender then brought Aang into view, who hand his arms under the desk and his lips slightly parted, a look of deep and utter confusion on his face.

Katara did not like this at _all_.

She adjusted herself in her seat, still peering at Aang as if in a trance, before Toph's voice broke the silence.

"Hello? Earth to Katara!" she hissed quietly, making sure Katara was the _only_ one to hear it.

"S-sorry."

Toph simply rolled her pale green eyes and looked down at her closed book with a blank stare, waiting for her friend to begin reading.

Katara stole one more glace at Aang. He was looking at her in return, but promptly darted his eyes away, causing both of them to blush. Toph sighed over dramatically and asked Sokka for help instead, making Katara relieved she could focus on more... intriguing things.

Katara glanced around the room, looking at people who had partnered up and were answering questions from the textbook. The room was at a controlled level of sound, allowing all to talk as pleased. She quickly, but softly scooted her chair closer to Aang, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"Wha-What are you doing?" he asked apprehensively.

She stared at him with a kind smile on her face as she connected her desk with Aang's. He looked down at her hand as it made it's way to his book and noted the page he was on.

"You're going to be my partner."

She watched him smile.

"What?" she asked, a small giggle trying to escape. Katara then flipped to the same page as her 'boyfriend'.

"Nothing." Katara looked at him with a tiny frown on her face.

"C'mon, you can tell me."

He shook his head softly.

"Why do you think I have anything to-to talk about?"

"Because-" she cut herself off as Wen Li entered the room once again. She strode back to her seat, and as she did so, something popped into Katara's mind. Before she could even ponder it, it came out.

"Because I love you, Kuzon."

Katara looked from Aang's shell-shocked face to Wen Li as she whipped her head around and choked on her own oxygen. She then focused on Aang again.

He blinked wildly a few times, followed by him rubbing his eyes as if in disbelief. After coming to a conclusion that what just happened was real, phony or not, a satisfied smile played across Aang's features.

"I love you too, Tara."


	4. 3

**A/N: Whoa. I almost forgot I had this. Sorry! o.O R&R I guess... Thanks.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.**

--

3.

There was a high pitched noise coming from the ceiling. From the reaction of the other students, Aang figured it was the bell. He smirked to no one in particular and closed his book, placing it in the holder under his desk. Several students were already out the door heading for their next class, and most were packing up.

Wen Li sat next to her friend, doing neither. She was unmoving and had a smug look on her face. Aang didn't even want to know what she was thinking. He sighed and watched the girl to his left bend over. He adverted his eyes. It seemed even more wrong to look than it normally would've, being that he was madly in love with her.

"C'mon, we've gotta get to our next class. Hurry up," she said, sternly.

He watched her as she looked at the Fire Nation girl named Wen Li, her smile disappearing.

As they made their way into the hallway, they spotted Sokka and Toph.

"Thanks for you're help, _Tara_," Toph said, her voice sour and intimidating. She narrowed her blind eyes and stiffled a yawn.

"Sorry..."

Toph shrugged. Katara figured it was the only sign of forgiveness she was going to get. She led Aang by the hand to their next class, noting the immediate dampness of his limb and smiled.

"This is it," she told him, eyeing the golden-framed door with a dusty, illegible plaque on it.

She turned around, waiting for Toph and Sokka, then remembered they had a different class than them. She did, to her disliking, spot Wen Li. Her first impulse was to ignore her, but came up with another plan.

The dark haired girl was speaking to her friend, and as she turned around, Katara pulled Aang's collar, causing him to lurch forward. He gasped in surprise and flayed his arms in front of him incase he fell. Katara held him close and pressed her lips to his, pushing herself as close as possible. Aang's eyes widened in surprise, but fluttered in bliss and sunk closed.

She did something even herself didn't expect, deepening the kiss farther than she wanted to and slipping her tongue into Aang's mouth. Again, the boy's eyes widened, sending terror and thrill down his spine at the same time, the two emotions so mixed it was hard to tell them apart. He tried to move with her, finding it a bit challenging as neither of them really knew what they were doing. Katara was only doing what she'd seen others do, and Aang was completely oblivious to the fact that anyone kissed this way.

She released Aang's collar and pulled back slowly, looking into his confused gray eyes. She wanted it to last longer, but decided she'd probably already done far too much.

"You witch!" she heard Wen Li screech behind her. Aang had a goofy, distant smile on his face, unmoved by the Fire girl's presence.

Katara smiled back, hearing Wen Li, but doing her best to ignore her. She was completely focused on Aang, whom she heard whisper breathlessly.

"You play dirty," he said, his smile turning into a smirk. She blushed ferociously, the events of what just happened kicking into full gear.

"Sorry," she responded, feeling foolish.

He grunted under his breath.

"For what?"

Katara didn't respond, but she could almost read Wen Li's thoughts.

_This isn't over._


	5. 4

**A/N: Lol. I love torturing Katara. ;)**

**We'll get back to the Kataangy goodness next chappie. This'ns really short. Soz. When I get back home, I'll write 5. That'll be in either one or two days (depends on the plane ride).**

**Up until school starts, which should be September something... 11th maybe? I dunno... but up until then, I'll be writing like crazy. Try to keep up. :P After that, I must warn you - I have so many advanced classes. Stories may be like they were during vacation. Oracle might have a chapter a week. I appologize deeply for this, but alas, there's not much I can do. Homework, y'know?**

**Review. I promise Ch. 5 will be longer!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.**

--

4.

"Principal's office. Now."

The words didn't even register into her head until she heard Wen Li snicker from directly behind her. She tore her eyes away from Aang, who had a goofy expression on his face. Katara couldn't place what it was, but had a strange feeling she didn't want to know.

The next thing she realized, Aang stepped in front of her, almost in a defensive position.

"It was my fault sir, I'm sorry," he appologized, a sincerity in his voice.

The professor of our next class rolled his eyes. "Nice try, but I saw it, boy." He stared at Katara again and spoke through clenched teeth, "To the Principal's office."

The tall man tried so hard to be frightening, he wasn't. It was like some sort of cheesy mask. It made her want to laugh, but she resisted the urge and stalked off to where he pointed. She gulped and flood into the stuffy room, her heartbeat still rapid from the spur-of-the-moment impulse.

After she spotted the principal, she couldn't focus. All she could think about was how Wen Li had Aang alone now. Next period wasn't for a good five minutes, and she could do anything. _Anything!_

She swallowed fearfully at the thought, but the person in the chair spun around and watched as she did it. He must've thought it was caused by fright of him.

"Don't be afraid, child," he said almost murderously. What was with the people of the Fire Nation?! Were they _all_ like this?

Katara cleared her throat silently and smiled as innocently as she could. There was no change of heart in his eyes, but she figured she'd give innocence a go anyhow.

"Do you know the rules? No public acts of affection during school hours," he said slowly, acting as if she was dumb. She nodded. "No touching. No hugging. And no _kissing_," he hissed.

She didn't feel like she had a right to speak in this man's presence. She could get expelled or something. Not like it mattered, but still. Wen Li could-

"Do you understand? _No. Kissing._ That is a violation of school rules, and if you can't get that through to your _stubborn little skull_, you're going to undergo punishment. Am I clear?"

She nodded again.

There was a long pause, but he looked at her skeptically, digging his eyes into her own. "What is your name?" he questioned in a low voice.

"Tara," she responded.

"Good, good..." he said, drumming his fingers on the desk. Suddenly he narrowed his eyes. "I'm sure we'll meet again."

She wanted to giggle so badly. This guy was just like the professor. He thinks he's _so_ scary...

He gestured to the door.

"You may leave."

Oh. She knew that.


	6. 5

**A/N: Okay, here's this. I'm probably only going to have 8-10 chapters in all. Maybe even less if my plot goes a different way then it's supposed to. Please read and review. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.**

--

5.

Aang didn't pay attention during the majority of last bell. Not even when Katara walked into the room, blushing profoundly and took her seat beside him. He watched it happen, of course, seeing how he couldn't keep his eyes _off _her. But he wasn't _paying attention_. Their eyes were locked as some silent conversation went on, but he took no part in the telepathic speech.

She kissed him. And not just kissed him, but _kissed _him. Not only that, but she had a hunger and a desire to do it. He could tell. Katara wasn't one to do things without a reason. Being that Wen Li wasn't enough of a reason to kiss someone to that extent, it seemed unnecessary. He didn't see the point.

But the reluctance to pull away was the stronger emotion during that scene.

He was a bit confused...

"Excuse me? Is there something you need to share with the class?" Mr. Hyosha asked during the last five minutes of school.

He waited, but neither Katara nor Aang replied. The teacher slammed his ruler down on the desk, causing both of them to jump. They looked up and blushed.

"N-not really," Katara covered.

The bell rang.

The waterbender grasped Aang's hand and yanked him out of class. The two swiftly ran into their other companions.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Toph complained, "Why am I stuck with you all day?"

Sokka snorted. "Don't ask me. Katara did all the planning."

Aang raised an eyebrow at this comment. Katara was the one who made sure they were alone? Now the kiss seemed a bit excessive.

"We're going home," Katara pressed, pulling Aang's arm and walking past the others. They exchanged a look, shrugged and followed.

"By home you mean..."

Katara shot Toph a glance behind her shoulder and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Yes, Toph. The cave. Shush up."

She laughed. "Nice job, Twinkletoes. You made her mad."

Aang pondered this. Did he really? There were so many unanswered questions in the midst, pulling him down and out of sanity.

Once they reached the outside of the school, the kids started to deteriorate. The four sat outside and waited until most everyone else was gone before making their way back 'home'. If anyone tried to follow them, they could collide into some trouble. They didn't want people questioning why they were in a cave, let alone one with the only flying bison in existence.

Some things were hard to explain.


	7. 6

**A/N: Guhh... I'm so tired. I feel like a zombie.**

**Actually, today was really fun. I was molding clay to make my necklace (the one from my mother). I wanted to make a betrothal necklace from Aang, but I'm so lazy. And I needed to write anyway, so bleh. After I post this chapter, I'll start working on the engagement one. Guess I need another pan to bake with . . .**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.**

--

6.

Toph thrust her foot on the ground and spread her arms, raising a piece of earth to charade as a chair. She sat down on it and leaned forward, resting her right elbow on her knee and chomping a bite out of the apple in her hand.

She watched as Sokka slumped down on the ground and shifted her view to Aang and Katara, just entering their make-shift home. They weren't talking, and seemed to be looking anywhere but each other, but they still kept a close distance of an inch or so. Their heartbeats were on the danger end of accelerating, which wasn't quite as frightening the first time it happened.

The young airbender, with a current heartbeat average of one hundred thirty a minute, broke off from his stride pattern with Katara and set his bag down. He kneeled on the ground and began removing things; possibly parchment of some kind, a book, and something thick, like a folder.

Once he'd opened the thick item and flattened it to the ground, Toph was positive it was a folder. His hand skimmed the top of it momentarily and he pulled something out.

"Okay, guys. We haven't really collected much information today. Some things they said were even borderline lies, and others... were. It's like they're molding the kids brains to what they want them to think." Aang shifted the papers on the ground and silently regarded them, shaking his head afterward. "The earth kingdom military triggered the war? Sozin tried his best to stop them but found a weak point and altered the direction of the war? These aren't even remotely true."

Sokka sighed heavily. "I don't think we're getting anywhere, Aang. Maybe there's no point to this school thing, anyway."

Katara stood.

"Guys... I think I'm gonna waterbend for a little, okay? I haven't been able to lately... I'll be back in a bit."

Sokka eyed her. "What about our discussion about what we learned today?"

"Like Aang said, it's false information. I don't think a discussion will change that."

He nodded. "Just don't get yourself caught."

"I won't."

"Bye Katara," said Aang.

The warrior nodded his head and shooed her off.

"See you in an hour or so. Love you, Aang."

Toph could feel her freeze. Her whole body stiffened and everything fell silent.

"Katara?" Aang questioned calmly, yet his voice shook a little, "What'd you say?"

She turned to him and dropped her arms from their crossed position. Aang cocked his head while awaiting his answer, but she mumbled something even the earthbender didn't hear.

"What?" he asked again, persistantly.

"I... I said I loved you. Must be habit by now, y'know acting like your girlfriend at school..."

Sokka laughed.

"Then wouldn't you have said 'I love you, Kuzon'? Hopefully you're not calling him Aang there. A lot of people know the Avatar's name, Katara."

She opened her mouth to speak, but seemed to consider something before words came out.

"I don't call him... Why is this such a big deal? It was a mistake! I'm sorry!"

She turned on her heel again and paused momentarily, her shoulders rising and falling in a large breath that altered her heartrate.

"Katara..." Aang mumbled, "Can I come with you?"

The waterbender peeked over her shoulder and nodded. When she began to walk, Aang caught up with her and put an hand delicately on her shoulder. Sokka began to laugh, enough to clutch at his sides, and when they were out of the cave, shouted, "You two have fun practicing your lovebending! I'll be here if ya need me!"

He really was more of an airhead then Aang somedays.


End file.
